The Age of Madness Trilogy
'The Age of Madness Trilogy '''is second trilogy by British author Joe Abercrombie set in the First Law World. The first book ''A Little Hatred was published on 17 September 2019. Works in the Series * A Little Hatred ''(September 2019) * ''The Trouble With Peace ''(September 2020?) * ''The Beautiful Machine ''(September 2021?) The audiobook is read by the incomparable Steven Pacey. Premise The new trilogy takes place roughly 28 years after the end of [[Last Argument of Kings|''Last Argument of Kings]], or 15 years after ''Red Country''. The action take place for the most part in The North and The Union. At the beginning of the books: * The Union: Jezal dan Luthar is little more than a puppet-king, with Arch Lector Glokta and Bayaz the real power-behind-the-throne. The Union has entered an Industrial Age, with chimneys rising all over Midderland, and the slums seething with the kind of discontent first seen in Starikland. * The North: Scale is also something of a puppet-king, with his brother Calder holding the real power. A new generation of warriors led by his Stour Nightfall seek once again to expel the Union from the North. * The Northern Protectorate: the southern part of the North, between the Cusk and the Whiteflow, is now a protectorate within The Union under The Dogman. * Gurkish Empire: Uthman-ul-Dosht was emperor in alliance with the Magus Khalul. Both seem to have been deposed and killed, and Gurkhul has descended into chaos. * The Old Empire: The empire seems to have finally found some sort of cohesion under Emperor Goltus in alliance with the Magus Zacharus. It is now ruled by Dantus Goltus, who may be the son of Goltus the First. Cawneil seems to be taking a more active role in the world in alliance with Zacharus, and causing problems for Bayaz. * Styria: all the city-states have been unified except for Westport under Monza Murcatto and her son King Jappo, in alliance with the Magus Shenkt. The Union has fought three wars in Styria, to press Prince Orso's claim to the Grand Duchy of Talins, all of which were lost. The second trilogy follows the interweaving stories of seven characters, many of whom are the children of characters from the previous novels: * Rikke is the daughter of The Dogman. * Leo dan Brock is the son of Finree dan Brock. * Savine dan Glokta is officially the daughter of Ardee and Sand dan Glokta, but her biological father is King Jezal. * Prince Orso is the son and heir of King Jezal. * Vick dan Teufel is the daughter of Sepp dan Teufel, who Glokta arrested on trumped up charges early in The Blade Itself. * Jonas Clover was supposedly present throughout the events of ''The First Law'' trilogy, but was never mentioned before this book. * Gunnar Broad is an ex-soldier who made his name in the Styrian campaigns mentioned at the end of The Heroes. The plot picks-up the threads left over from the First Law Trilogy more'' ''directly than the standalone books. Thus the struggles of The Union's dysfunctional government to cope with the social changes brought by industrialisation and enclosure of common land. Whether The North can find a path out of its cycle of violence to a better world. The bitter rivalry between the Magi; Bayaz, Khalul, Zacharus, Cawneil, Shenkt etc. And maybe even the other powers in the Circle of the World such as The Other Side, or Ferro Maljinn, or the Dragon People. Progress Joe Abercrombie’s plan for the trilogy is to write a rough draft of all three books first, in order to get the best and most coherent end product. He'll then revise the each book thoroughly for publication. Thus there'll be a considerable wait for the first book, but then a regular publication schedule thereafter. According to his latest blog post, the publication dates are pretty much set now on September 2020 and 2021. Category:Books